I hear you and I won't say you are "wrong". We can discuss about what good and bad both games did but in the end we gotta judge them in their own context individually therefore saying something like this doesn't make sense:
There is literally no reason to play this crap instead of Deus Ex.
- As a cyberpunk genre game:
• Deus Ex 1 nails with theme and world-building but it fails in actual cyberpunk sense. Undeniable a cyberpunk game but it's not satisfying because people are not living in cyberpunk universe we know the genre for and only specific people belongs to cyberpunk theme but rest of people are not. Society is yet to live in actual cyberpunk world. It kinda feels like you are supposed to watch a space sci-fi movie but it's about humanity lands on the moon in a different way and that's it. So can you say that movie is a satisfactory space sci-fi when there are tons of "deep space sci-fi" movies like Star Wars?
• Cyberpunk 2077 is a bad adaptation of its own franchise, however it nails the proper cyberpunk genre sense. It fails with Night City for it cannot make the city feel like "concrete jungle in cyberpunk universe", it looks like giant size of lego-made city designed for little kids lol.
However everything else is pretty much a cyberpunk genre stuff.
• In conclusion: I don't like Deus Ex 1 because it's a cyberpunk genre game, I like it because whatever else it has. Why I dislike CP2077 is also because not because of its genre but whatever else it else except gameplay.
- As the design of the games:
• Deus Ex 1 aimed to be realistic in the way there is a reacting world so whatever you do has consequences so it does offer great replay-value and endings.
• CP2077 aimed to be a fake RPG but real pew pew FPS that you just experience a visual novel like story "from Cyberpunk universe" and you make simple choices when game asks you and then it leads you to one of the endings.
• In conclusion: While Deus Ex 1 can be played forever because it's how it was designed, CP2077 more about "finish it and forget it" game design.
- As which target audience the games for:
• Deus Ex 1 is for mature people who want a deep RPG. Some random kids cannot comprehend what the game is even about. Most teens would be like "wow people look cool and people have stupid dialogues" lol.
• CP2077 is for people who want a GTA game with dating sim elements because this is what industry believe what is "RPG" anymore. Because of it the game seems more like GTA as in features and how story plays out like a Korean drama and then side content-wise it's more like Ubisoft + Sleeping Dogs shit. Naturally when they failed to make it RPG they invested on generic formulas for the industry to sell the shit. In the end the game is appealing for brain-dead horny people.
- As for music:
• Deus Ex 1 has a soundtrack that screams "wow if the theme of cyberpunk was a music it would be it!!!!".
• CP2077 due to what the story is about they went with rock musics and then whatever new generation kids would like.
- As for gameplay:
• Deus Ex 1's combat was even bad for its time, it made me feel like it was always designed to be a stealth game but people from up asked "dude add guns and shit" so they went with it. Still it's prime reason why I always play the game in hardcore stealth and avoid most of the game there is lol.
• Honestly CP2077's new update made the game best FPS game ever for me just because what I like in cyberpunk roleplays is being Street Samurai who can even cut bullets in air + hack the shit out of people. Finally I could make this dream true in a game.
Overall conclusion: Each of these games does something else and therefore they are okay in their own context. While I like most of stuff in Deus Ex 1, I can't deny gameplay of CP2077 is fun so that's why I cannot say "Deus Ex 1 is better so play it instead". After all games are not whatever genre they have, games are made of gameplay, theme and features that either of these 3 will be enough for players to like the game and play the game for.
For example on Sega Genesis there is a game called "Chakan", the game has a fuck gameplay and it lacks in significant features but why I like the game is because of its theme. CP2077 had a fuck gameplay, features and theme but they at least fixed gameplay for me so the game became playable. I wouldn't still buy the game but it was so fun I found any excuse to play the game by sucking its content dry. Otherwise the game is still a rubbish of the decade shit for many reasons lol:
The game is still in a worse state than how fuck Watch Dogs 1 was without any sense of fix. Bugs and glitches are fixed, but not the game design lol.
